ACRIMONY

Have you ever been a relationship for so long or invested your time, life, money, energy and much more in a person and have it all a waste. That was how Lisa felt.

Kelvin (her ex-husband) had been announced dead that morning, and she still didn't feel satisfied, she wanted him alive to suffer for all he had caused her, all the hurt and pain. Not even the fact that his new wife killed him made her feel better, she wanted to do the killing herself.

Lisa had just turned 53 yesterday and couldn't seem to get over the hatred she felt in her heart, she kept wondering where she went wrong in her life and how best she could salvage what was left of it.

Her mind rolled back to how it all began: it was a new year and Lisa just celebrated her 25th birthday which was a huge celebration as she just graduated top of her class and was offered a job in one of the top 5 construction companies in Lagos.
She was among the 5 recruits the company had made that year and was the only female among them. Salary was 300k for starters which was perfect for a young single girl in Lagos. she finally got an apartment on the fifth floor of the "bar beach tower" houses which was few minutes from her office, Life couldn't be better than this she thought to herself.
Ooh but if a man could come her way it would be a perfect match. her dream man is six foot, dark with an eight figures annual salary (do the maths), definitely loving and caring, wasn't that on every girls list. "I don't want a lot" she said to her self thinking of how much she had achieved.

Work was interesting as she enjoyed what she was doing, only problem was it was a male dominated profession so she had a lot of pushing to do to excel which she did, it took her only five years to get promoted to manager and another eight years to become a director in the her firm. She was proud of how far she had gone, if only there was a man to share that joy with her.

Funny how with money comes a lot of responsibilities, she had started her own NGO and constructed two mini bridges for her home town. They all loved her and prayed for a man to come her way, which according to society was the sole aim to a woman's purpose, she ended up sleeping every night praying for a man, in fact any man as long as he can get her pregnant for a child was what she yearned most for.

It was another birthday which only meant "getting older" to her. she was the BIG FORTY this time around and no man in site not even a prospect, she realised she was staring at her reflection in the mirror and remembered she was deciding what to wear to an award's event which she had a VIP ticket for. finally a lovely red gown she had worn only once at her company's AGM flashed through her mind.
It took only an hour to get to the event, she was ursherd in alongside a lot of VIP's, she was sitted next to .... wait a second he was fineee... who was he, she felt her heart stop for a moment, he was smiling at her and his lips were moving, ooh my those lips could do magic to her.... "STOP!!!" her head tried to bring her mind and heart to concentrate, she only then realised he was asking for her name.

It was indeed a lovely evening, she had been swept of her feet like a baby, and guess the best part, he was based in Abuja and just recently began his own legal firm. Yes he was a lawyer and had been practicing for more than twenty years, did i mention he was fifty one yup and a divorcee but who cares. Finally it felt like life was smiling at her, what more could she have wanted in a man, he fit the bill.

It has been three months since we officially started dating (two weeks after we met) and this would be our 10th date since we were very busy executives, he had invited me to Dubai for a weekend, i didn't mind at all, he had done all the reservation ahead of time so it was a swift and smooth trip never did i know that was the beginning of my doom. stepping into the bedroom i realized rose petals was all over the floor and bed.... aww he was really romantic, turning around i saw him on his knees asking me to be his wife.... Time literally paused, i had waited my whole life for this moment, ooh how happy i was, i can't remember how loud i was but i know i said yea and the rest was history.

We had been married for 10 years now no child, i was too excited getting married finally i did not do the necessary checks, turns out my dream man was sterile!!!, can you imagine my shock after trying for years and thinking it was all my fault not knowing it was him all along. I decided to open an orphanage home to help cure my hunger for a child but all i wanted was my own child with my blood but he took that away from me, ooh how i hated him now, worse off was i had loaned him so much money to invest in his company and didn't know how to get my money back as the company made barely enough to run itself.

"How i wish i could turn back the hands of time", she kept thinking to herself, she had quit her job few years after the marriage trying to stay as stress free as possible thinking she was the cause of their lack of child, she had given him more than half of her savings to invest in his company with hope of getting a twice the amount, what a fool she was, she had given this marriage her all, it turned out he was not half of the man he claimed to have been, but just a shadow of it, he lived off loans and used her to pay off a lot of his debt, she was willing to pay to cover her shame, "i should have known better" she cried to herself.

The sound of someone banging at the door jolted her back to reality, checking the time she realised it was past eleven, wow she had been lost in thought for long, hurrying to the door she wondered why he was coming home so late, to her surprise she found the gate man at the door, "oga said to give this to you" he said handing her an envelop.

Tearing into the envelop wondering what this was all about she found divorce papers, her heart certainly had stopped, he had to be joking.... hold on ... something else was in the envelop, it was a letter, which explained how he loved her no more and wanted another woman, who he had engaged.
How, when, where.... different thoughts flew through her mind, he had breakfast in this very house this very morning, how did all this happen so fast.... Ooh my Lord, it began to make sense, all those jobs that took him away for days sometimes weeks, he was searching for her replacement, besides she had no steady source of income and had a great chance of going bankrupt.

How didn't she see the signs, he was a user and her value had faded, ooh noo he had to pay, for all he took from her, how could he ruin her like this, ooh how great the mighty has fallen... he will surely pay for all this, she promised her self, ooh if only she could rewind the hands of time!!!